When Sacha Collins, cafe owner and sundae-maker extraordinaire, meets Italian archaeologist, Alessandro Salvatore in Rome, she’s grateful to him for being her tour guide. Now he’s turned up in the seaside village where she lives, known locally as, The Boardwalk by the Sea and is setting up a gelateria in direct competition to her retro Summer Sundaes Café.

She’s only been running her café for two years since taking over from her father. Until now the only other shops on the boardwalk have been a wool shop, an antique shop and a second-hand book shop. These have helped rather than hindered her custom. How will her creative sundaes made from fresh Jersey ice cream compete with his delicious Italian gelato?

Sacha is worried. Is there enough custom for both businesses to thrive? Who is behind the strange changes being made on the boardwalk? And when the oldest resident on the boardwalk is threatened with eviction can Sacha and Alessandro come together and find a way of helping her?

For a peaceful little boardwalk overlooking one of the quieter beaches on the island, there’s an awful lot going on and some of it is going to lead to big changes.

Georgina Troy is the pseudonym of author Deborah Carr. Her first book, A Jersey Kiss was a finalist in the Contemporary Romance Category of the Romantic Novel of the Year Awards 2016 (RoNAs) and finalist in the Joan Hessayon Award for New Writers 2015.

Her WW1 historical romance, Broken Faces, written in her own name, Deborah Carr, was runner-up in the Good Housekeeping Novel Writing Competition 2012. She lives on the island of Jersey with her husband, two children and three rescue dogs. Her books are published by Accent Press and Green Shutter Books. Georgina is a member of The Blonde Plotters.

Georgina’s new series, The Boardwalk by the Sea, includes four standalone novels about friends, Sacha, Bella, Lexi and Jools. Each book is set in a different season. The girls live on or near a small seaside village known locally as The Boardwalk by the Sea and all of them make an appearance in the books throughout the series but each book will focus on one of the friends!

My Review
I mean Hot Italian Man, Ice Cream, Rome, Jersey. What’s not to love? This book has friendship, romance and solidarity, things I think we can all agree should be present in any good Chick Lit. Then you add in some good old fashioned rivalry and intrigue and Georgina has pulled off a lovely book, with the right balance of all. Her characters feel real and you can fall for them easily!

I look forward to the rest of the series!
Keep in touch with Georgina:

Hello all! It’s been a while what with life and such so here I am with another review for another stonkingly good book.

About the Book

There’s safety in solitude…isn’t there?

Single dad and best-selling thriller writer Ethan James has no problem being Templeton Cove’s most famous recluse…until a surprise visit from the past plunges him into a real-life crime drama just as feisty nurse Leah Dixon barges her way into his world.
Ethan’s first priority is to protect his daughter. His second priority is to keep Leah out of this dark web—and that means out of his bed. Except Leah isn’t going anywhere; she’s afraid little Daisy is in danger. Ethan couldn’t live with himself if anything happened to Leah…but pushing her away may be even harder..A little snippet

On the other side of the front door, the kitchen/dining room stretched from the front to the back of the house. Even though it was in semi-darkness, Leah could see straight through to some French doors at the back, the only illumination coming from the overhead light of the stove as it glinted on steel toward the center of the room.

Snapping her gaze to Daisy, Leah’s opinions on personal tastes flew to the wayside. The little girl’s eyes were wide as she chewed her bottom lip. Leah frowned. “Are you all right, sweetheart? Do you want me to knock?”

Daisy nodded and raised her arms toward Leah as though asking to be picked up. “Yes, please. Daddy might be mad.”

“Oh, Daddy won’t be mad.” Leah bent down and picked her up, hitching her onto her hip as Daisy’s arms wound around her shoulders. “If Daddy’s mad, I’ll show him how to calm himself down real quick. Don’t you worry about that.” Leah lifted the brass knocker and let it fall a little harder than necessary.

No answer.

Narrowing her eyes, she knocked again.

She was readying to knock a third time when the door swung open.

“I told you to get the hell out of here and not come back.” The man’s dark hair sprouted from every angle, his raging eyes bulging and his right hand swathed in a blue and white––and bloodied––dishtowel. His gaze held Leah’s for a split-second before he snapped his attention to Daisy. “My God, Daisy. What are you…” He cupped Daisy under her armpits, wincing slightly as he pulled her from Leah’s arms to hold her close. He pressed a lingering kiss to her temple, his raging eyes hidden behind his closed lids.

Leah stared, completely stunned by this flannel-shirted, blue jeaned, incredibly good-looking man…despite the bulging eyes. She coughed in a bid to find her voice. “Mr. James?” She planted her hands on her hips. “You’re Daisy’s father, I presume?”

He opened his eyes and Leah stepped back.

Apparently when his eyes had softened and were filled with regret rather than rage, they looked good. Really good.

She stilled. Oh, good Lord. Be damned if those weren’t the eyes of Templeton’s reclusive novelist, Ethan James.

About the Author

Rachel lives with her husband and two teenage daughters in a small town near Bath in the UK. After having several novels published by small US presses, she secured agent representation in 2011. Since 2013, she has had seven books published by Harlequin Superromance (Templeton Cove Stories) and an eight coming in Feb 2018. She also has four Victorian romances with eKensington/Lyrical Press.

Rachel is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and Romance Writers of America, and was selected to mentor the Superromance finalist of So You Think You Can Write 2014 contest. When she isn’t writing, you’ll find Rachel with her head in a book or walking the beautiful English countryside with her family. Her dream place to live is Bourton-on-the-Water in South West England.

My Review

Well who doesn’t love a good romantic suspense? There’s something that draws you in when the twists and turns of a suspenseful book are sprinkled with romance. Add to that a dedicated protective Single Dad and you have a winning formula. Ethan would do anything to keep Daisy safe and Rachel has done a fantastic job of drawing you into the story and making you fall for the characters. This is my first visit to Templeton Cove and I will certainly be back!

The Man in the Needlecord Jacket follows the story of two women who are each struggling to let go of a long-term destructive partnership. Felicity is reluctant to detach from her estranged archaeologist husband and, after being banished from the family home, she sets out to test the stability of his relationship with his new love, Marianne.
When Felicity meets Coll, a charismatic artist, she has high hopes of being distracted from her failed marriage. What she doesn’t know is that he has a partner, Sarah, with whom he has planned a future. Sarah is deeply in love with Coll, but his controlling behaviour and associations with other women have always made her life difficult. When he becomes obsessed with Felicity, Sarah’s world collapses and a series of events is set in motion that will challenge the integrity of all the characters involved.

The Man in the Needlecord Jacket is a thought-provoking book, written from the perspectives of Sarah and Felicity. The reader is in the privileged position of knowing what’s going on for both of the women, while each of them is being kept in the dark about a very important issue.

Inspired by the work of Margaret Atwood and Fay Weldon, Linda explores the issue of mental abuse in partnerships and the grey area of an infidelity that is emotional, not physical. The book will appeal to readers interested in the psychology of relationships, as well as fans of Linda’s ‘Lydia’ series.

BUY LINKS

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About the Author

Linda MacDonald is the author of three independently published novels: Meeting Lydia and the stand-alone sequels, A Meeting of a Different Kind and The Alone Alternative. They are all contemporary adult fiction, multi-themed, but with a focus on relationship issues.
After studying psychology at Goldsmiths’, Linda trained as a secondary science and biology teacher. She taught these subjects for several years before moving to a sixth-form college to teach psychology. In 2012, she gave up teaching to focus fully on writing.
Linda was born and brought up in Cockermouth, Cumbria and now lives in Beckenham, Kent.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MeetingLydia/
Twitter: @LindaMac1
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4870870.Linda_MacDonald

My Review

This book is a strange one, the story grabs you and yet the theme is a man treating women appallingly. I’ve read so many books lately that test the usual happy go lucky romance theme and this is no different. I haven’t read the other books in the series so the characters are new to me and strangely unlikeable, which isn’t to say I didn’t like the book, it just means Linda has written complicated realistic people. It’s definitely worth your time, and will give you a whole new perspective on modern romance. Bravo to Linda for going against convention.

GIVEAWAY
Click the link below to be in with the chance to win one of two prizes!

First prize signed paperback book bundle of all of Linda’s 4 books with 3 recipe cards and a bookmark. (uk only)

Can Delphie Beauchamp, a Texas born research librarian fresh from a break-up with her two-timing boyfriend, help best friend and newly elected Chief of Police Em Landry, solve a double homicide in the old Mystery Bay Cemetery? Chief Landry needs Delphie’s help in solving the murders, along with determining why specific graves from the early eighteen-hundreds have been vandalized. Her canine best friend in tow, a twenty-two-pound dachshund named Huckleberry, Delphie heads for the tropical island of Mystery Bay, Florida where she begins a journey that includes a pinch of gold, a touch or romance, and a wallop of ghosts, in a race to solve the mystery, of the Mystery Bay Hotel.
A little snippet from the book

The smell of the ocean, crisp and briny like a jar of pickles, held just a hint of murder in the air. I picked up my luggage from the small carousel inside the terminal and opened the glass door of the Mystery Bay International Airport. The sultry, mid-October sunshine hit me all at once, along with the sweet fragrance of the red, frangipani trees that bordered the edges of the sidewalk. Amazing how paradise was just a plane ride away.

“God, what a beautiful day.” I dropped my suitcase on the pink-hued coral sidewalk and pulled out my sunglasses. Before I could slip them on, Huckleberry, my twenty-two pound, red Dachshund whined for me to take off his winter sweater. Poor little guy. The outfit worked great for the chilly October weather in central Texas but not the south Florida humidity.

“Sorry, Huck.” I unhooked his leash and pulled off the sweater. Stretching out his long body, Huckleberry trotted over to the nearest hibiscus bush and hunched over. Seconds later he sighed in relief.
I coughed and fanned the air. Guess he wasn’t that hot in his sweater after all.

Welcome to Willoughby Close… a charming cluster of cozy cottages, each with a story to tell and a happy ending to deliver…Harriet Lang had the perfect life, so she’s left reeling when everything is taken from her in one fell swoop. Suddenly, Harriet learns her beautiful farmhouse in the Cotswolds is double-mortgaged, her husband Richard’s been unceremoniously fired—and he’s become a little too close to his young, sexy assistant.

Harriet moves into Willoughby Close with her three children, trying to hold her head up high. With the help of her neighbor and newfound friend Ellie Matthews, Harriet starts to rebuild her life–but dipping a toe in the dating pool feels strange and meanwhile her children are struggling in different ways. She wonders if starting over is really possible…

Then Willoughby Close begins to weave its healing magic on both her and her children, and Harriet begins to see a way forward. She even starts to date sexy local vet Tom Roberts–but when Richard reappears in her life, wanting to make amends, Harriet must make the painful decision about how much of the past can be forgiven—and what kind of future she is fighting for.

A peak inside

“Come on,” Harriet said now, as she climbed resolutely out of the car and gave them all as cheerful a smile as she could. “Let’s check it out.”

​The movers had already come; Harriet had marked what furniture to take from their house to Willoughby Close, and it had been a depressingly small amount. The big, bespoke kitchen table wouldn’t fit, and the huge dresser with all the pottery she’d collected over the years wouldn’t either. In fact, at least two-thirds of their furniture was going into storage, which was expensive, but Harriet couldn’t bear to lose all of it along with the house. They’d need it when Richard got his job, and they bought something bigger.

She’d spent hours and hours, weeks and months, selecting all the furniture for the house, with the help of the expensive interior decorator who had more or less held her hand through the entire process. She’d bought tasteful antiques interspersed with fresh modern pieces, carpets and kilims from various holidays, watercolors and oil paintings of places that were meaningful to them. Sophie had once said, with admiration that bordered on envy, that Harriet’s house could be featured in Country Life.
And so it would again. This was a blip, damn it. Things were going to get better. Richard was going to find a job, he’d said so, and they’d get back their house or buy an even better house, and she’d live there without him, happy and defiant. Or something like that. She couldn’t picture specifics yet, but she couldn’t stand the thought of the rest of her life looking like… this.
The children trooped silently behind her as she fumbled with the keys and then opened the door to number two. The smell of fresh paint and emptiness hit her like a smack in the face. It was the smell of fresh starts, and she didn’t want one.
She stepped inside, reaching for the lights. Although it was only four in the afternoon it was already getting dark, the skies heavy and low with gray clouds. Spring felt a long way off, despite the fact that it was mid-February, and the spattering of snowdrops interspersed with an early crocus or two that she’d seen on the drive in.
“This is it?” Mallory’s voice rang through the empty space, scornful and incredulous. William kicked at the skirting board, scuffing the pristine white paint. Chloe stuck her thumb in her mouth.
“Yes, this is it,” Harriet said, trying to pitch her tone somewhere between firm and bright. “It’s lovely, isn’t it?”Get a copy

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GOOGLE BOOKSAbout the Author

Kate Hewitt is the author of over 65 novels of women’s fiction and romance. Whichever the genre, she loves telling a compelling and emotional story. An American ex-pat and former New Yorker, she now lives in a small market town in Wales with her husband and five children. You can learn more about her books and life at http://www.kate-hewitt.com.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KateHewittAuthor

This is the third book in the Willoughby Close series, but it’s my first visit to the series!

From the outside, it looks like Harriet had it all, the house the kids and the husband. However we learn quite quickly that life isn’t always as it appears from the outside.

When the family descends on Willoughby Close, there’s a lot for Harriet and her children to learn. Willoughby Close provides the family with a lot of lessons, and Harriet has to learn to live and love a very different kind of life.

I didn’t connect with Harriet, she seemed too spoilt and moany without a real sense of her involvement in her financial woes. However that seemed to be the theme of the book, so I think Kate has written a character that makes you question her rather than blindly accept as we do in many other novels. Willoughby Close seems to have a little magic to it, I might need to visit some of the other stories there!

Dear Anxiety,
I know people say that you don’t truly hate something, but I hate you.

It’s been nearly 10 years since you wheedled your way into my life, and I’ve felt you every day since.

You wake me in the middle of the night with your stupid pointless worries.

You stop me falling asleep in the first place, making me remember that one time I shook someone’s hand wrong or waved at the wrong person.

You take my breath away, not in the good way.

You took away the man who took my breath away in the best way ever.

You stop me making friends.

You stop me making decisions.

You’re everywhere ago, in everything I think.

You’re the scourge of my life.

You’re the stigma.

You don’t define me, you are simply an imbalance of chemicals.

I am strong, I am smart, I am important.

I am more than you.

Today I started the job of my dreams and I fought you, I felt you constricting my throat this morning. Whispering ‘what if’ in my ear, pointing and laughing. I held my head high and I completed my first day with you and grief and heartbreak tugging at me, pushing me toward the shadow of doubt. I stayed in the light.

Today marks the first day of Mental Health Awareness week, I am unashamed that my brain chemicals are imbalanced, that Anxiety has plagued me for almost a decade.

That’s a question I asked myself a million times, but not just about You about all the ‘you’s’ that came and went before You.

I needed to be thin – You loved my curves

I needed to be taller – You loved it when I went on my tippytoes to kiss you

I needed to be more like all the other girls –You liked my individuality

I needed to know more about how to be a girlfriend – You accepted my relationship immaturity and nurtured it

I had to ask if things were ok, if I was getting this right, if I was overwhelming – You promised never to disappear, pinky swore if there were issues we’d confront them and told me I was making great steps in the direction of being your Mrs Right.

I didn’t know if you cared – You said I was the light at the end of your tunnel

So why, why am I sitting here with my heart ripped apart, my mind on more overdrive than I’ve ever had it, nerves getting me worse than ever before and future wide open once more – You disappeared.

I gave you a card – You said you would simply walk into Mordor for me.

You were my great love.

You were a little bit behind every single smile for the last four months

You were the sunshine in the dark days after I lost my dad

You were the droid I was looking for, the knight in shining armour, the cheerleader who said this girl could.

You broke the pinky swear, you left me with a cold hearted text after I gave you everything I had to give. I was yours, I was your awesome bootiful lovely sweetie. I was your rock when you needed me.

I wonder if you think of me, if you wonder what I’m having for lunch, or that I got home safe, or how my last couple of weeks at work before I start the job I took with hope of more time shared with you are going.

I miss you, more than I knew I could miss someone who was only in my life for a short time.

I wondered on Wednesday how you’d get home that night because I always gave you a lift and sat and held your hand and wished I could sleep in your arms that night as we said goodbye.

I wonder if you ripped up the card I gave you for Valentine’s Day, threw it and the wallet card and the birthday and easter gifts in the bin.

I wonder if I see you in the street months from now, will you smile or will you hide your face and pretend you weren’t the brightest star in my sky for the last 4 months.

I wonder if some other lucky girl gets your good morning and goodnight messages already.

I wonder if you knew, when you kissed my face all over, and waved and blew me a kiss last time I saw you, that it was goodbye.